When I think of mind love, I think of programing my subconscious mind with the most loving program that I can, so that I can see that love play out with myself and others. You may already be familiar with the subconscious mind. It is the sponge, the vault, the safe where all of our experiences and thoughts are stored permanently. In computer language, it is our master program steering our lives. It has been programmed by what our conscious mind has taken in over the course of our life, especially our first few years. Our subconscious mind is not there to judge us, but rather to keep us in a balanced state consistent to how it has been programmed.
This is helpful to understand when raising children, because you can impact the programming of their subconscious mind, in turn affecting the rest of their lives. This is helpful when doing self reflection too as you can work to re-program your subconscious mind if it is not serving you as you would like. Think of it this way, we all start as smooth stones that are carved into stone sculptures with what we are taking in from the world around us making the grooves. Once we have been carved, we can be changed, but it will take some work.
With this understanding of how integral our subconscious is to ourselves and our children, I wanted to understand ways that I could encourage ours to seek balance in the most positive state of living possible. These ways I call Mind Love and here are my favorite 5 Mind Love practices:
- Night-Talk – unbeknownst to my kids… I have been having a “night talk” with them most nights over the last 5 years. I go into their rooms about 30 minutes after they have fallen asleep and I say nice things to them that I know to be true and I want them to know too. They are asleep when I am talking according to an incredible therapist that we worked with for a while, this window of time when they first fall asleep is a perfect time for people to absorb information into their subconscious. Whether or not you believe it to be true, it feels great knowing that you were able to share words of love and encouragement with your kids as they fall asleep and just before you do too.
- Positive Quotes – we all love this one! My kids, my husband and I all are always on the lookout for positive, adventurous, uplifting quotes and we take every opportunity to post them up around our house. These constant visual cues help keep our mind focused in the direction of our dreams.
- Limit Negativity – we look for ways to remove negativity in our lives so that we never get to a place where negativity is our comfort zone. We do not overwatch the news and we do not spend a lot of time with people who have constant complaints. When we are upset about something, or feeling negative ourselves, we try to accept the feeling, recognize it for what it is, take a few minutes to be there and then look for ways to move on so that we don’t have to continue to carry it around. Laughter, movement and getting outside are tools we use to get off a negative train if we find ourselves on it.
- Push our comfort zones and avoid self limitation – We like to try new things, learn new ideas and travel. As soon as we get in a rut, we find that our creativity decreases and we put ourselves in boxes that do not need to be there. Ways that we move beyond our comfort or supposed limitations include participating in outdoor adventure, reading and learning all the time, spurring creative conversations, and trying new things.
- Focus our thoughts, words and intentions on what we really want to fill our lives. We visualize and affirm through verbalization, feelings of love, gratitude, joy and dreams. We create drawings of ideas. We dream and we talk about these dreams with each other. Nothing is off the table. Keeping this focus can take a lot of consistent work, especially at the beginning, but kids are awesome reminders! If I lose my focus, they will remind me in an instant and help me stay on track.
Since we have adapted these five practices, not only have I changed, but so have my kids. We have embraced possibilities. We have tried new things. We have found joy in places that I have least expected it. We are giving ourselves mind love and in turn it is giving us life love.
As a follow up, you might enjoy reading the Wealthy Gardener and seeing what focus, thoughts, and intentions can do for others too.
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